The Forrest Gump Church

Have you ever been to a Forrest Gump church?  It's one of those churches where you never know what to expect.  Where the theology of the church seems to shift with whichever way the wind is blowing on a particular Sunday, and the doctrine tends to change as about often as the "Preacher" changes his shirt.  Often the "Preacher" steps up to the pulpit, flops open the Bible and begins to preach from whatever catches his eye, and then proceeds to cover everything from Genesis 1:1 through maps (if his Bible has them), and then ends every service with a fiery altar call to scare everyone in the house to come to the altar for salvation (for the umpteenth time), and get saved one more time.  And many times people do just that.  It can be a pretty confusing place for a lot of well intentioned people that just have not taken the time to read and study their Bible.  I call that "The Forrest Gump Church."

If you have seen the movie "Forrest Gump" you probably remember him saying "Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."  There are many such churches out there that operate much like I have described.  They have no stated doctrine, no sound theology, and most often no accountability.  As a result people never know what they're gonna get.

Paul advised Timothy "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." (2Timothy 2:15 NIV).  As followers of Christ we to should all heed that advice, and not just do as the "Preacher" says, but read and study our Bible daily to protect ourselves from coming under unsound doctrine and false teaching.  We sure don't want to stand before God on that Day of Judgment and say "But Forrest said . . ."